Tool holder



Patented Sept. I9, 1922.

PHINEAS N. FREASE, 0F BOTHELL, WASHINGTON.

TOOL HOLDER.

Application led April 15, 1922. Serial No. 553,063.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that PHiNnAs N. FREASE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bothell, iii the county of King and State of IVashington, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tool Holders, of which the following is a specification.

The invention is directed to an improvement in hand tools of the type wherein an independent handle is to be secured in fixed relation to the tool proper, and the invention comprehends a means whereby the handle may be effectively held in place against displacement during the use of the tool.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation, illustrating the invention in connection with an ordinary hammei.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the securinO wedge.

. Ihe hammer here shown, at l, is designed to represent any tool with which the invention may be utilized. The hammer head is formed with the usual handle eye 2 and the handle 3 is, for the purposes of this invention, cutaway on the lower edge t of that portion of the handle to be fitted within the eye, to provide by such cutaway portion, a wedge shaped opening between the lower edge of the handle end and the bottom of the hammer eye.

rIhe wedge member 5 is adapted to be driven in the wedge shaped opening described, this wedge member more or less accurately fitting the wedge surfaces throughout their contour and being formed on the side next the handle with serrations to cooperate with the wood of the handle, as at 6, and formed' on the opposite surface with teeth 7, to more or less engage with the material of the hammer head.

I have found by experiment that when the handle is inserted into the head and a smooth faced holding member driven into the eye of the head, under ordinary circumstances, it is effective to hold the head securely upon they handle despite the tendency of the head to slip off the handle when the tool is in use. If the tool be left, however, in a very dry atmosphere, such as an engine room or the like, for a considertions than the serrations, that such a wedge is effective to at all times prevent the slipping of the head of the hammer from its handle. The relatively large serrations 6, of course, Contact with the wood of the handle as the wedge is being driven into its place as .seen 1n Fig. 1, the wood, of course, not offering suiiicient resistance to the seriations to prevent the driving in operation, and if the wedge be so driven in, the upper surface of the recessed portion which coacts with the serrations will be roughened so as to result in great holding power between the wedge and the handle. The

teeth 7, as stated, are sharp and of very l much smaller dimensions than the serrations, because those teeth contact with the metal of the head instead of with the wood of the handle, and if the teeth were not relatively small in size, it would render it difficult to drive the wedge into place. The action of the teeth with respect to the metal of the head is similar, of course, to the action of the serrations 7 with respect to the handle.

What I claim as new is:

lThe combination with a hammer head having an eye therethrough, and a handle having a wedge-shaped cutaway portion in one edge of the part which passes through the eye, of a wedge-shaped member having serrations upon one of its faces and relatively line teeth upon its opposite face, whereby the wedge member is adapted to be driven in the recess in the handle so that the sei-rations will engage and embed in the handle and the teeth will engage the wall of the eye in the hammer head to eifectively lock the handle against movement in the hammer head. A

In testimony whereof I aix my signature in the presence of a witness.

PHINEAS N. FBEASE. Witness:

R. KIRBY. 

